Faculty

Profile

Maya Ciarrocchi is a Canadian-American artist whose work excavates vanished histories through the lens of Queerness and her Ashkenazi ancestry. Her previous career as a dancer/choreographer and subsequently as a theatrical designer allowed her to work across disciplines, from performance in site-specific locations to large-scale projections in traditional and experimental theatrical venues. These past experiences inform Ciarrocchi's post-disciplinary studio practice comprising drawing, printmaking, video, and immersive, movement-based performance. By combining personal and historical narratives with spatial and embodied mapping, Ciarrocchi uncovers buried pasts and reveals how they are felt in the present. The resulting two-dimensional, time-based, and performative investigations construct new, fantastical spaces from the residue of loss.

Ciarrocchi has exhibited nationally and internationally and received residencies from the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, MacDowell, Millay Arts, UCross, and Wave Hill. Her projects received funding from the Bay and Paul Foundation, Bronx Council on the Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Jerome Foundation, Map Fund, Franklin Furnace Fund, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation. Ciarrocchi earned an MFA in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, and a BFA in Dance from Purchase College, Purchase, NY.

Degrees Held

Master of Fine Art in Computer Art - The School of Visual Arts

Bachelor of Fine Art in Dance - Purchase College

Research Interests

Video Art/Installation, Performance, Social Practice, Identity Politics, Environmental Studies

Portfolio

Artist Website